Dental implants of this type are known in a variety of forms. They are normally inserted into the jaw bone in place of a tooth which has been extracted or has fallen out in order to retain, after a healing phase of three to four months, either a prosthetic part acting as a denture or else a crown. For this purpose a dental implant of this type is normally formed as a suitably shaped metal member, the post part normally being inserted into the jaw bone by being screwed in at the point provided. The post part generally comprises, at the apical end, a mostly self-cutting thread with which the post part is inserted into the accordingly prepared implant bed.
A dental implant of this type is normally basically formed in two parts and comprises the post part provided for placement in the jaw bone and an associated structural part to which the denture piece provided as a prosthesis or the like can be attached. The post part and also the head part or structural part normally consist of metal or a ceramic material, more specifically in particular of titanium, zirconium, a titanium alloy, zirconium alloy, a titanium-containing alloy, a zirconium-containing alloy, a zirconium oxide-aluminium oxide ceramic material, or a ceramic material which contains either zirconium oxide or aluminium oxide or comprises at least one of the ceramic materials as a main constituent. Furthermore, ceramic materials can be used which are based on silicon or silicon oxide and contain, for example, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon or tungsten. The post part is normally provided on its outer face with a thread which may be configured as a self-cutting thread or else as a non-self-cutting thread. The post part is normally anchored in an accordingly prepared implant bed of the jaw bone. The construction of the thread provided in the outer region of the post part is normally designed for high primary stability of the arrangement and uniform transfer into the jaw bone of the forces produced during chewing loading of the dental implant.
The structural part, the upper region of which is normally equipped, in a manner which is known per se, with a crown, another prosthetic provision or the like, is normally screwed to the post part via a suitably selected connecting screw. When fixing in place, the thread of the connecting screw is normally screwed into an associated inner thread in the post part. During the screwing-in process the screw head of the connecting screw presses the structural part onto the post part via an indentation in the end of said structural part. However, the structural part can also be pressed into the post part and be fixed merely via jamming, or can be fixed by cementing/bonding.
In order to stabilise this arrangement, a contact pin is normally integrally moulded on the structural part and can be introduced into an associated shaped recess in the post part with a positive fit. The structural part can thus be inserted via the contact pin into the shaped recess in the post part, mechanical fixing then normally being achieved by tightening the connecting screw. Of course, in the manner of a reverse arrangement, the contact pin may also instead be integrally moulded on the post part and the shaped recess may be formed in the structural part.